The Spy Factory (2009)

The Spy Factory is a documentary film that was shown on US television (PBS) in 2009. It is an episode in the long-running program NOVA, which focuses on the history of science and technology (season 36, episode 11). Here is some basic information about it:

** Written and produced by James Bamford

** Directed and produced by C. Scott Willis

** Narrated by Jay O. Sanders

** Run time: 55 minutes

This film is the story of the National Security Agency (NSA) before and after the attack on the World Trade Center and other locations in 2001, known in the US as September 11. The NSA is a US government intelligence organisation which monitors communications all over the world in order to protect the security of the United States. It is a very secretive organisation. It was established in 1952, but for many years even its very existence was a secret. According to a joke, the letters NSA stand for “No Such Agency.” According to another joke, the letters stand for “Never Say Anything.”

The film is based on James Bamford’s book The Shadow Factory that was published in 2008. Bamford has been studying this institution for many years. His first book about the NSA – The Puzzle Palace – was published in 1982, during the Cold War and long before the age of the internet.

According to the film, the NSA knew the identities of the men who planned to attack the World Trade Center and other locations. They knew where these men were and what they were doing whenever they left an electronic trace. They followed them as they moved from California on the west coast towards New York and Washington, DC, on the east coast.

The day before the attack some of these men were actually staying at a motel in Maryland, just a few miles from the headquarters of the NSA. But the NSA never shared this knowledge with other security organisations, such as the CIA or the FBI, which means that these organisations were unable to stop these men from carrying out their deadly plans.

Several witnesses were interviewed for the film. Some of them know the NSA from the inside, because they used to work there. Others only know the institution from the outside. The NSA was invited to appear in the film, but the offer was declined. They did not wish to send a member of staff for an interview nor did they wish to answer any questions. Here are the names of the witnesses in the order of appearance:

** James Bamford, author

** Eric Haseltine, NSA director of research, 2002-2005

** Tim Sample, former staff director, House Intelligence Committee

** Michael Scheuer, former CIA analyst

** Mark Rossini, former FBI supervisory agent

** Frank Blanco, NSA executive director, 1999-2001

** Eleanor Hill, staff director, Congressional 9/11 Committee

** Mark Klein, former AT & T technician

** Brian Reid, Internet Systems Consortium

** Adrienne Kinne, former NSA voice interceptor

** David Murfee Faulk, former NSA voice interceptor

[General Michael Hayden, NSA director 1999-2005, appears in the film, but his statement is an excerpt from a Congressional hearing that took place in 2000. The general was not interviewed for the film.]

The information presented in The Spy Factory is important, some observers might even describe it as alarming and disturbing, but it seems to be credible, because it is supported by evidence and it is presented by people who seem to know what they are talking about.

If you are interested current affairs – in particular the world of intelligence and the rise of the national security state – then this film is something for you.

PS # 1. James Bamford’s books about the NSA: The Puzzle Palace (1982, 1983) and The Shadow Factory (2008, 2009).

PS # 2. For more information and more details, see the following items:

** War on Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State (2013)

** United States of Secrets (2014)

** Citizen Four (2014)

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The cover of Bamford's book from 1982

 

 

The cover of Bamford's book from 2008

 

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